Elected council member will serve about 18 months
Four candidates have filed paperwork to run for a seat on the Healdsburg City Council in a special election to be held June 6.
Gary Plass, who served three consecutive terms on the council and lost his bid for reelection in November, was appointed in January to fill the seat temporarily when council member Eric Ziedrich resigned after Measure R (which would have loosened growth restrictions) was defeated in November.
Plass is running again. He is a retired Healdsburg police sergeant and works now as a real estate agent.
Leah Gold, who served a term on the council from 2000 to 2004, is also seeking another term. Gold runs her own educational consulting business.
Erica Whisney, who served on the city’s Communuty Housing Committee last year, is seeking her first elected position. Whisney is an educator and board certified behavior analyst who works with children who have autism.
Rosie Fabian, who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2010, is running again. Fabian is a care provider and homeless advocate.
Housing and tourism are expected to be significant issues in the council race. Some opponents of Measure R have already lined up behind Gold, who opposed R and who was instrumental in the passage of Healdsburg’s first urban growth boundary.
Plass and Whisney supported Measure R, describing it as a needed step in prividing affirdable housing.
Many Measure R opponents are also behind a plan to limit tourism and hotel development (see commentary on page 5).
The special election was called when the current council was unable to choose between appointing Plass, Gold or someone else to fill the rest of Ziedrich’s term, which would have ended in 2018. Whomever is elected will serve until the end of next year.
The special election will cost up to $33,1000.
